Nazeer Banarasi

Banaras's own voice — the Unani physician who wrote the nation's unity into nazm and ghazal. Nazeer Banarasi (1909–1996), born Nazeer Ahmad on 25 November 1909 at Banaras, was an Indian Urdu poet of nazm and ghazal, and a Unani physician by profession. His father was a well-known practitioner of Unani medicine in Banaras, and Nazeer joined his father's profession, serving his city with both medicine and poetry all his life — he never moved to Delhi or Mumbai to chase fame. He chose his material from the life around him, and his poetry became a living record of his times: he wrote for Hindu-Muslim understanding and Indian nationalism, and composed long poems on the leading literary, social and political figures of his day. His collections include Gang-o-Jaman, Rashtra ki Amanat Rashtra ke Hawale, Jawahar se Lal Tak, Ghulami se Azaadi Tak and Kitab-e-Ghazal. He died on 23 March 1996 at Banaras, aged 86.